Top 25 Universities In The World: THE World University Rankings 2017

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, founded in 2004, provide the definitive list of the world's best universities, evaluated across teaching, research, international outlook, reputation and more. THE's data are trusted by governments and universities and are a vital resource for students, helping them choose where to study.

The Time's Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 list the 980 top universities in the world, making it our biggest international league table to date.

This year's list of the best universities is led by a UK University for the first time in the 12-year history of the table; the University Of Oxford is the world's number one university, knocking five-time champion, the California Institute Of Technology (Caltech) into second place.

It is the first time a US institution does not take the first spot. However, the North American powerhouse still dominates the list with 148 universities in the top 980 and 63 in the top 200. The rest of the top five is by Stanford University in the third, the University of Cambridge in fourth, and Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) in fifth.